Islam teaches that we are born neutral; equally capable of doing good or evil. My understanding is that is what was taught by all of the prophets of God.

In conversations with my Christian friend, I am told that a Christian believe that we are born with a bent towards evil and sinning. She was not able to explain it in a way that made sense, can you?

Thank You,
Ayesha.

Sat Sep 02, 2006 8:30 am

omarSite Admin

Joined: 30 Jul 2006Posts: 15

Post subject: From the Scriptures - Neutral or Sinful?

Wa Laikum As Salaam. Thank you Ayesha for your question about what Christians believe.

Christians and Jews are called ?people of the book? in the Quran. The reason for this is that the word of God has been in their possession since God graciously bestowed it up on them through the Prophets. These scriptures have been compiled in a book, the Bible. So the scriptures we will share are from the Bible ? and let you decide for your self what God?s Word teaches.

We present to you a collection of how God views us ? are we neutral or prone to sin? Let us look at the root of the problem ? the ?heart?, which in scripture is the seat of our ?will?, ?motives? and ?emotions?. Jesus in the scriptures teaches us:

He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' " Injeel Mark 7:20-23

Let us now look at the condition in our hearts and minds and see what God?s Word says about it.

"The LORD saw how great man's wickedness had become, and that every inclination of the heart was only evil all the time. Taurat, Genesis 6:5

"What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?... how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil like water! Prophets, Job 15:14,16

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Prophets, Jeremiah 17: 9

If we are purely neutral, capable of doing good or evil equally, simply providing us rules with encouragement and motivation such as reward and punishment would be sufficient for us to not commit sin. We would follow the rules perfectly. Is that what the Word of God tells us about ourselves? Does it teach we can and do follow commands or do they teach something else?

Surely I have been a sinner from birth, since the time my mother conceived me ....Zabur, Psalms 51:5

"When they sin against you?for there is no one who does not sin?and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near; Prophets, 1 Kings 8:46

"How then can a man be righteous before God? How can one born of woman be pure? If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes, how much less man, who is but a maggot-a son of man, who is only a worm!" Prophets, Job 25 :4-6

Do you understand what the scriptures teach so far - do we commit sin purely because of our willful disobedience or is there an inclination in us to do evil? Are we within ourselves prone to evil or not? God know us better than we do, let us take a look and read what other things he has communicated through his messengers.

If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Injeel, Luke 11:13

They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants] and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. John 8:33-34

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. Injeel, Romans 3: 19

Does scripture confirm that man is inherently weak against his own nature that is bent towards doing evil?

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Injeel, Romans 7:21-24

So we let you decide for yourself and conclude from God?s Word.

As much as we would like to think that we are neutral and capable of doing good and evil equally, the scriptures teach us that we are prone to evil, and that evil is in our hearts and it is in us from birth. This was not the case with Adam and Eve. They were made perfect and were neutral, capable of good or evil, but once they sinned we all have had to deal with the affect of their sin on us. For an explanation what happened in the Garden of Eden and how the sin of Adam affected us , we recommend that you read our earlier response here or check the article What does Scriptures teach about Adam?s Sin? that discuss this topic at length.

We thank you for giving us at The Abraham Connection an opportunity to answer your questions from the Word of God. We hope our sharing from scripture has helped you understand if we are neutral or prone to evil. Please do write back if we can help further.